Esther Watt

Esther specialises in commercial litigation and public law. She has broad experience and has appeared in complex commercial cases in New Zealand and internationally. She acts for private and public sector clients in a wide range of commercial disputes, with a focus on contractual, public law, regulatory, and human rights matters. Esther has appeared at all levels of the New Zealand courts, as well as in complex commercial cases in the courts of the British Virgin Islands and the Dubai International Financial Centre. She acts as both lead and junior counsel, and has appeared as counsel to assist in the High Court and in coronial inquests.

Esther started her career as a Judge’s Clerk in the Court of Appeal, before joining the Crown Law Office, where she worked in the criminal and human rights teams. After completing her LLM at the University of Cambridge, Esther spent four years in the London office of a leading US commercial litigation firm. Upon returning to New Zealand, Esther spent three years in the litigation team of a national firm before joining the independent bar in 2017. In addition to her litigation practice, Esther taught the Civil Procedure course at the Law Faculty of Victoria University of Wellington in 2023 and is a board member of Te Kura Kaiwhakawā/the Institute of Judicial Studies.